Settlement of a lawsuit normally represents compromise, however the agreement recently reached on Bridges and Burkett vs. the City of Wildomar and Sunbelt LLC (Case MCC 1300893) provides for substantial benefits and protections for the people of Wildomar at no cost to the city.
Sunbelt agreed to bear the fees and costs for itself and the City incurred in this Lawsuit, the settlement of the Lawsuit, any future enforcement thereof pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, or any challenge to the Agreement.
This means city council members and their usual clique of political surrogates or supporters will have no grounds to harp on how this lawsuit cost either the City of Wildomar or the taxpayers any money -- because it didn’t and it won’t.
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More importantly, the settlement provides the people of Wildomar with several safeguards that the Petitioners maintained should have been built into the Oak Creek Canyon project's original Conditions of Approval by the City Planning Department as part of their lengthy pre-approval process.
~ The developer is compelled by explicit, revised or added Conditions of Approval to build the Oak Creek Canyon project’s complete sanitary sewer infrastructure including connections from the project site to the existing EVMWD infrastructure near I-15; and
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~ Also to secure the sewer system development prior to the final map approval with a faithful performance bond in the amount of 100% of the construction cost of the project and a labor and materials bond in the amount of 100% of the construction cost; and
~ The City is prohibited from issuing building permits for any of the development project until the sewer infrastructure is fully completed according to the EVMWD’s approved plans; and
~ EVMWD is to be the provider of sanitary sewer services for the Oak Creek Canyon project, thus preventing any additional or temporary project connections to the Farm Mutual Water Company’s archaic, overloaded wastewater system
~ The Superior Court of the State of California, County of Riverside, will retain jurisdiction over the Parties to enforce this Agreement until performance in full of its terms and conditions
~ The Agreement will be binding upon the parties, including any related, associated or authorized agents, partners, servants, employees, attorneys, representatives, affiliates, heirs, executors, executrix, conservators, successors, and assigns. And, it will endure forever and shall survive the execution of the Agreement.
~ That’s legalize meaning that the terms of the Agreement will be enforceable even if portions of the land are sold off piecemeal and developed separately.
All of these benefits and protections truly enhance the probability that if the Oak Creek Canyon Project moves forward at all, it will do so in a reasonable manner and that the required completion bonds will ensure each phase of the project is fully completed.
The question people should be asking is why it took months of labor by concerned citizens and a costly lawsuit to provide Wildomar with these safeguards?
It was the responsibility of Planning Director, Matt Bassi, along with Wildomar’s city council and planning commission to ensure these stronger Conditions of Approval were included BEFORE they gave their approvals for the project.
There is another lawsuit over this project by Citizens for Quality Development which addresses many other CEQA issues which is still before the Court.
The city council and their staff all failed in their duty to protect the people of Wildomar in their haste to accommodate the developers and land speculators by approving a poorly planned project without the strong conditions of approval that were needed!
Updated 12-09-2013
